Monday, July 19, 2010

Inge Out 4-6 Weeks with Broken Finger

Brandon Inge was hit by a pitch by Rangers right-hander Scott Feldman tonight and left the game with a broken finger. The early word is that he'll be out four to six weeks. This is a big blow to the Tigers who already had a few other holes they were trying to fill before the July 31trading deadline. He was replaced by Don Kelly tonight, but that won't be a permanent arrangement.

There are a couple of possible directions they could go. What I would like to see them do is bring up second baseman Scott Sizemore (.333/,395/.509 for Toledo) and move Carlos Guillen to third base. Sizemore is a better second baseman than Guillen and Guillen won't hurt them anymore at third than second.

Since I think that Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland will be reluctant to move Guillen to yet another new position, a more likely scenario would be to call up Jeff Larish (.273/.368./.505 for Toledo). The problem I see with this move is that you end up with below average defenders at both second and third.

The third possibility would be to acquire a third baseman in a trade, but they are already looking for help in the starting rotation, the bullpen and shortstop. If they do look to acquire a third baseman, possible targets include Pedro Feliz and Ty Wgginton.